Moscow insists on being given legally-binding guarantees on European missile defense – Duma chairman

PARIS. Feb 6 (Interfax) – Moscow continues to insist on being provided with legally-binding guarantees by NATO, and primarily the United States, that the missile defense system being deployed in Europe will not be targeted against Russia, State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin said at debates with French National Assembly deputies.

“We need guarantees backed by objective technical parameters that this system will not be targeted against Russia,” Naryshkin, who is on a working visit to France, said at an expanded meeting of the National Assembly foreign affairs commission on Wednesday.

“When someone tells us in words that this system is not targeted against Russia but refuses to sign a legally-binding agreement in deeds, this certainly raises doubts in us,” he said.

He insisted that security for all countries should be equal and indivisible.

Naryshkin warned that Moscow cannot twiddle its thumbs while its U.S. partners make decisions on deploying missile defense elements in Europe and putting them into practice.

“But this is surely not our choice,” Naryshkin said in explaining the need for Russia to take measures in response to the missile defense system’s deployment.

French parliamentarians tried to persuade the Russian delegation that the missile defense being deployed in Europe is targeted not against Russia but against countries located far to the south of Russia.